Students Participate in National Competition

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Twenty-three Westminster College students participated in the Enactus National Competition April 12-15 in St. Louis, bringing home a first-place division trophy as finalists in the opening round.

Sponsored by Hershey Company, the competition requires each school to present its projects and annual achievements to a panel of judges, explaining the financial/economic needs of the community, what was done to fulfill those needs and the results.

Westminster presented four projects:

Financial Literacy among Juvenile Delinquents was conducted at George Junior Republic, a school for juvenile offenders in nearby Mercer County. Basic financial literacy skills, including banking services, debit and credit cards, checks, savings and budgeting and taxes, were presented to two classes. Progress was evaluated using pretests, quizzes and post-tests.

Investment Challenge involved visits to 18 classes at seven local schools to teach students how to invest wisely in the stock market. Using an online simulation game to put lessons into practice, students applied their new-found knowledge and abilities, experiencing the value of research before investing. One school incorporated the simulation into its regular coursework.

Employment Workshop was a collaboration with the Farmville Area Homeschool Program and the Lawrence County Career and Technical Center. Realizing that not all students have the opportunity to learn skills necessary to develop successful and professional résumés, or receive guidance on proper interview techniques, the Westminster students gave interactive presentations and role-playing exercises that impacted nearly 300 high school students.

Farmers’ Market partnered with the Mercer County Farmers’ Market to improve the way its events are promoted. Westminster students updated the market’s website to make it more attractive, useful and easy to maintain. Then they created a Twitter page and linked to the market’s Facebook page, increasing Facebook “likes” tenfold. In addition, a new vendor payment plan was developed to increase revenues to the owners of the market, while improving equity in the fee structure among vendors. This project will continue next year to examine the results and meet with vendors to discuss ways to improve the way they sell their products.

The students were accompanied to the competition by David Smith, Westminster associate professor of accounting and the group’s adviser.

“This year’s team probably did more than any other team I have advised at pulling together as a team when it needed to,” Smith said. “When we arrived in St. Louis, the presentation lacked confidence, polish and depth. But as a team, we went over and over the presentation to get it right. Speakers presented while other members critiqued. Those not speaking played the role of competition judges, grilling the speakers on ways to improve informational content and presentation style.”

“The effort paid off as the speakers quickly improved,” Smith added. “When the competition took place, the presentation was near flawless. The trophy was well earned.”